Description

During the early oil boom years, a permanent statue was commissioned by the oil barons to go in
front of the new International Petroleum Exposition building where the Golden Driller now
stands. They wanted a figure that would represent a classical personification of oil, a “Goddess
of Oil”. There was so much wealth flowing into Tulsa because of the oil discoveries, (It was
around this time that Tulsa’s airport became the busiest in the world, overtaking NYC, London
and Paris…. Combined!) that oil indeed could be seen, as a sort of goddess. The statue was to
stand 40 feet tall and hold aloft an eternal flame. The well-known Tulsa artist Clarence Allen
was commissioned to design the statue. A call was put out for models and a young girl from
Sand Springs, Marjorie Morrow Anderson, was chosen. The artist said she was chosen because
“She has the same proportions as Betty Grable” a famous movie star of the day. However, as fate
would have it, WWII intervened and the plans were put on hold, and then unfortunately forgotten
about. Marjorie said she wanted to use the money she earned from the modeling to take art
classes. She indeed became a beloved Tulsa artist and passed on her talents and love of art to her
daughter and then her grandson, William A. Franklin. William inherited the original maquette of
the statue. William is also the artist who created this Art Deco inspired poster, is the owner of
DECOPOLIS, and the founder of the Tulsa Art Deco Museum.

The poster is a DECOPOLIS exclusive created by artist William A. Franklin. Each poster comes
matted and signed with a certificate of authenticity.